Fairfield County Educator Fired After Video Shows Him Making Sexual Comments About Students

The video of Iman Rasti, a teacher, writing director, and middle school dean at Green Farms Academy in Westport first surfaced online on Project Veritas on Thursday, Nov. 10.

By Friday, Nov. 11, the school had fired Rasti, according to a letter sent to parents and obtained by Daily Voice.

"Dr. Rasti claimed that the statements in the edited video were taken out of context," wrote Bob Whelan, head of the school. "Dr. Rasti’s grossly inappropriate comments are anathema to everything we stand for." 

In the video, Rasti makes comments to a woman who is allegedly secretly filming him, saying some female students sit in front of him with their legs spread so he can see "their panties," and more. 

"It's just brutal, brutal," Rasti says in the video. 

He also goes into explicit detail about what he can see and makes other sexually-based comments regarding his students.

Whelan wrote in the letter: "This incident is deeply troubling and violates the foundation of trust in our community between adults and the students in our care."

He went on to say that nothing in Rasti's background check, who was hired in 2019, "would have led us to believe he would act in this manner."

Before being hired the school completed a thorough, FBI-accredited background check and secured multiple references, Whelan added.

Whelan added that there has never been a single allegation of misconduct against Rasti or report of other concerning behavior.

Project Veritas, which describes itself as a “nonprofit journalism enterprise” says on its website it was established to continue the undercover work of James O'Keefe, the founder.

In the past, the site has been criticized for allegedly using edited and secret recordings.

Earlier this year, Project Veritas released another video showing a the assistant principal at Cos Cob Elementary School in Greenwich talking to a woman on tape about how he allegedly uses discriminatory hiring practices.

That video led to an uproar in the Greenwich community and the state attorney general to investigate the school district hiring practices. 

Efforts by Daily Voice to reach Rasti for comment were unsuccessful.

This is a developing story. Check back to Daily Voice for updates. 

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